Draft carriage horse ban to go before the full New York City council NEW YORK CITY––Horse-drawn carriages have never before appeared closer to being banned from New York City. New York city council speaker Julie Menin on October 13, 2026 announced that she and Mayor Zohran Mamdani had reached agreement on draft legislation to end […]
Cockfighting, Cubanos, Castro, & why no Commie connection
Cockfighting is tolerated in Cuba, barely, but in most of the Communist world is a symbol of the decadent west MIAMI, Florida; HAVANA, Cuba; MOSCOW, Russia––The 3,110 gamefowl impounded and euthanized from a ten-acre suspected cockfighting site in Miami-Dade County, Florida on October 3, 2026, near Little Havana, may be more than the sum total […]
The human faults of beluga sanctuaries, captivity, & Jason Bruck
Guest column by Kenneth W. LeVasseur Editors’ note: Kenneth W. LeVasseur, of Kaneohe, Hawaii, a dolphin intelligence and communication researcher for more than fifty years, with colleague Steven C. Sipman on May 29, 1977 released into the ocean two dolphins, Puka and Kea, who had been held at the University of Hawaii marine mammal laboratory, where […]
Low-cost vet care provider/funder offers another view of Rich Avanzino
by Bob Christiansen, co-founder, The Boca Fund (See also How to heal pets, heal the humane community, & heal the veterinary profession and Is the Veterinary Profession Serving All Companion Animal Medical Needs in America Today?, subtitled “A Case for Full-Service, Low-Cost, Non-Profit Community Veterinary Care Centers,” by Bob Christiansen.) For anyone involved in animal […]
Rich Avanzino, 84, one of the suspected “fathers” of bastardized no-kill
Avanzino in 23 years at the San Francisco SPCA helped to create the “no kill movement,” but in 17 years as founding president of Maddie’s Fund tended to discredit the concept PLEASANTON, California––Maddie’s Fund on September 29, 2026––nine days after Richard Avanzino’s actual death, announced that “Rich Avanzino, affectionately and widely known as the father […]
Will flagrant probation violations send SHARK assailant back to prison?
Dope, guns, evidence of cockfighting; why isn’t James Newcomb back behind bars now? IRONTON, Ohio––Why is alleged cockfighter James “Bubba” Newcomb, of Waterloo, Ohio, not back in the Ohio state penitentiary, after Lawrence County probation officers and sheriff’s deputies caught him on August 27, 2026 in flagrant violation of his terms of early release? Newcomb, […]
What do “rescued” beluga deaths signify for marine mammal captivity?
Sanctuary proponents square off against captivity defenders, as both sides invoke the name & teachings of Ric O’Barry CHICAGO, Illinois––Four of the 30 belugas evacuated from the defunct Marineland of Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, during July and August 2026 have died at their new homes, along with a fifth beluga who was […]
“March to End Animal Testing” reaches Marshall BioResources
Bill to ban federally funded biomedical research on dogs & cats introduced in D.C. NORTH ROSE, New York––The human population of North Rose, New York, officially listed as 571, is expected to double and perhaps triple or more on September 26, 2026, as the 207-mile “March to End Animal Testing” concludes with a three-mile hike […]
Peter Max, artist, vegetarian, & pro-animal philanthropist, dies at 88
Peter & Mary Max were “a consistent presence” at New York City galas for animal causes NEW YORK CITY––Artist and pro-animal philanthopist Peter Max died in Manhattan, New York City, on September 14, 2026, after a fourteen-year struggle with dementia, his son Adam Max disclosed two days later. Peter Max, “a vegetarian and a teetotaler […]
Five alleged cockfighters indicted; ex-NFL star convicted of dog fighting
Good news from the Department of Justice on both the cockfighting & dog fighting fronts––but what took so long? BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky; MUSKOGEE, Oklahoma––September 10, 2026 brought dramatic demonstrations both in the Appalachians and on the Great Plains of why Congress needs to pass––and enforce––the FIGHT Act to knock the money out of cockfighting and […]